Lesser of Two Evils
by Sgt. Grub Killer
Summary: This story is about the trails and tribulations Dizzy Wallin must go through, and the sacrifices he must endure to protect his loved ones, from his daunting past as a Stranded to enlisting with the C.O.G. in Operation Life Boat.
1. Act 1 Loss Chapter 1

Dizzy was just like any regular old stranded. Left by the COG to rot. He was one of the luckey oned though. He had something to hold on to. To keep him going everyday even while the rest of the world went to sh*t. What could it be, you ask? What could keep a man sane in this living hell. The answer is simple, his twin daughters, Teresa and Maralin. He felt as if he had a duty to keep them safe, no matter the cost.

10 Years After E-Day

He lay there, watching her beautiful face. So calm and peaceful. Her scarlet red hair framing her flawless face and draping down her neck. She looked like she didn't belong there. In a world where monstrous beasts killed everything they saw.

Ten years earlier the COG dropped the Hammer of Dawn in a futile attempt to stop the Locust Horde. Anyone who couldn't make it back to Ephyra was left "Stranded". In short, the Hammer killed more humans than Locust. The Horde just kept coming, and the COG fled to Jacinto.

None of that mattered to Dizzy now. His beautiful wife, Jasmine and his daughters, where the world to him.

Suddenly an explosion could be herd in the distance, breaking Dizzy out of his daze. He instantly shot up and got out of bed, grabbing his Boltak pistol under his pillow. Jasmine woke up at the same time.

"What's going on?" she asked in her soft voice.

"I don't know yet," Dizzy replied. "Stay here."

As Dizzy walked to the door, he herd the handle move and open. He quickly aimed the pistol, ready to shoot whatever came through. To his surprise Henny, Dizzy's best friend, came through the doorway.

"Well sh*t, Henny, don't you be scarin' me like that! What the hell is going on ?" asked Dizzy.

"Its those damn Grubs," replied Henny. "They're attacking the North end of camp."

"Dammit. Listen Henny, I need you to stay here and protect my girls."

"But Diz,"

"Please Henny. Their all I got, and lets face it, Ima better shot than you,"

"Fine. Do what you gotta do. You owe me man."

At that moment Jasmine walked into the room. She had changed from her sleeping attire into her day clothes. She had a Snub Pistol in her hand.

"If they are attacking, I need to tend to the wounded," she said. Jasmine used to be a nurse back at JMC.

"Alright then le's go," Dizzy said impatiently. He hated the thought of leaving her out of his sight. At least the twins were safe with Henny. Dizzy grabbed his dusty beat up hat from the table and the shotgun that was laying by the door as he and Jasmine left the safe confines of the house.

"Good luck Dizzy. Kick some a*s for me," Henny called out.

"You know it brother," Dizzy called back to him.


	2. Chapter 2

Gunfire rang out everywhere. What was once background noise, distant and dull, was now real and close. A wide range of sounds could be heard, from the explosions created by Boomshot rounds, to blood curdling screams.

Outside of houses people where calling out to family members, urging them to stay inside and away from the imminent threat. The Stranded weren't monsters like the COG led everyone to believe. They where human beings just like those COG fascists. They weren't just parasites living on the ass of society. Granted some where nothing but criminals and dissidents that disserved to be shot. Atleast that's what Dizzy thought.

Dizzy and Jasmine kept making their way toward the action. Weaving through alleyways and back streets. Their goal was like a X on a damn map. Head toward the large column of smoke and the intensifying sounds of the fight. Finally they crossed into the main street where the bulk of the fighting had taken place.

"Take care of the Fat Ones first!" yelled Gary, the leader of the Stranded camp. Jasmine had immediately went to work. She ran toward the first group of guys taking cover behind an over turned car. Out of the three of them, one had been shot, and Jas did just what she was trained to do. Dizzy ran out and took cover behind a road block some fifteen feet away from her.

About twenty feet behind Dizzy, the Stranded had set up a Troika Machine Gun Turret. They knew how to salvage enemy tech and use it against them. The man on the turret was plowing through those damn grubs. The Stranded forces hid behind cars, road blocks, building debris, and other assorted cover. They kept hammering away at the Locust, with shotgun, Hammerburst, and assorted pistol fire. Hell someone even had a Boomshot, and took out a good many Grubs out with it.

Dizzy peeked around his cover. There was a good fifty or so Locust packed into one street. Dizzy cursed under his breath. He knew that was a sh*t load of Grubs and more kept coming out of the holes. The Stranded may of had some powerful weapons, but they weren't trained soldiers.

One of those horrid creatures rushed Dizzy's position. He gave it no second thought. Dizzy took aim with the Gnasher and squeezed the trigger. The shot had blown the Grub's leg clean off with a fountain of blood flying out its stump of an appendage. The thing was left writhing on the ground, screaming in agony.

"HaHa, don't you crawl away mad now," Dizzy said with a small smile on his face. He was in no way making light of the situation. Its just humor raised moral. Hell, to see one man smiling, while sh*t was raining down inspires people in some primal way.

Dizzy cocked the lever of his shotgun and fired at the Grub once more. This time it shut up for good. Dizzy peeked around his cover again. The Locust were holding their ground. They were to far away for him to hit them with his Gnasher. He'd just be pissing rounds if he tried. Dizzy tried to think quick. His Boltak wouldn't work. He may have been a good shot but not good enough to hit the Grubs from that distance. To his right he saw the Hammerburst that the Grub dropped. Dizzy picked it up and felt its weight. It was a heavy gun, defiantly heavier than the Gnasher.

Dizzy popped up from the safety of his cover and fired his newly acquired Hammerburst. Seven rounds shot out the barrel of the gun, and shredded their way through three Grubs.

"BOOOOOOMMM!" shouted a Locust with a very deep voice. At that moment a Boomshot round arced through the air and landed next to the Troika. The explosion destroyed the gun and killed its operator.

"Dammit! There goes our support, fall back, FALL BACK!" Gary shouted.

That Troika had mowed down most of the Locust attackers so far. With it gone, there was nothing to hold them back. At just that moment Dizzy realized how deep the sh*t they were in was.

Suddenly the ground shook violently. Deep fissures split the street about thirty feet away from Dizzy. In an eruption of noise the building to the right of the Locust collapsed and giant spider like legs came out from the ground like demons trying to escape hell.

"OH F*CK CORPSER!" someone shouted.

By now the Stranded had spread out. Everyone running in different directions, they where definitely not trained soldiers. Explosions rang out elsewhere. Apparently the fight was spreading out through the rest of the streets.

"Dizzy! Dizzy!" Jasmine yelled at him, trying to get his attention. "I have to get over there. People could be hurt." Dizzy cursed his luck

"Fine, get goin'" Dizzy called back to her. He shifted his attention to the man next to her. "Tom, go with her." Dizzy said to him. Tom nodded back to Dizzy and they both ran off.

Dizzy could see Gary and two other men holding position ten yards away. Everyone else fled into the rest of the city. With his Hammerburst in one hand and the Gnasher in the other, he sprinted toward them at full speed. With bullets whizzing past his ears, narrowly missing him, he made it over there.

If all this sh*t was not bad enough, the next sound Dizzy heard took the cake. A long, high pitched scream let out. It was loud enough to shatter glass.

"You have to be f*cking kidding me." one man said in disbelief.

That sound was unmistakable. Berserker.


	3. Chapter 3

There the Berserker was, running full speed at them. Her thunderous foot steps shook the ground with every step.

"Sh*t, get out of the way!" shouted Gary desperately. He was obviously panicking now.

The four of them turned and ran. One of the Stranded tripped and fell face first into the concrete. He tried to get up but it was too late. The Berserker gave him a massive right hook. He flew twenty feet and slammed into a brick wall. He was splattered against it like a bug on a windshield.

"F*ck this man," the other Stranded said. He ran to the left, trying to get away. Like waving a flag at a bull, it only grabbed the Berserker's attention. She charged at him and easily caught up. She swiped at him with the back of her gigantic hand, pinning him up against the wall. She then grabbed him by the shoulder and picked him up over her head. With her other hand she grabbed the Stranded by the waist and pulled him apart. He split in half with his intestines and other organs spilling out of him.

Dizzy and Gary opened fire on the Berserker in a futile attempt to kill her. Each bullet glanced off her armor, not even leaving a scratch. She turned and faced then.

"She looks angry," whispered Gary.

Somewhere in the distance, Dizzy could hear the sounds of rotor blades, the signature sound of the COG King Raven. The Stranded had to hold out just a little longer.

The Berserker charged Dizzy and Gary. Dizzy's instincts told him to get out of the way and he listened. He and Gary rolled away just in time. The Berserker kept going and slammed into a building behind them. She turned around seemingly unfazed by the fact that half of the building was coming down on her. She climbed out of the debris and charged in the direction she thought she thought the two Stranded where in.

Just before Dizzy could even think to move out of the way, a sudden explosive blast knocked him and Gary down. Dizzy felt like had been hit by a truck. His eardrums felt like knives where driving into them. His head felt like it was being pounded by a sledgehammer. His vision was still blurred, and he couldn't see the Berserker anywhere. Dizzy looked around for her. His head was pounding so hard that he felt like he might black out. His vision slowly focused. In the last place Dizzy saw the Berserker lay a smoldering creator. Movement caught his eyes. He saw the Berserker staggering to her feet. She had large chunks of her armor like skin missing, reveling grayish pink flesh underneath. She got up and charged again, but this time not at Dizzy. Her target was a Centaur tank about twenty meters down the road.

The massive tank fired again. The blast sent the Berserker flying back. The shell hit her dead on but somehow she got back up. She stumbled down to one knee but still screaming her head off. Dizzy couldn't understand how she could take two tank shells and still get back up.

"Whoo, she's feisty. Must be her time of the month," Dizzy said while trying to pull himself upright.

At that moment three King Ravens flew over head. One opened fire on the Berserker with its chain gun. With most of her armor gone, the bullets just ripped into her exposed flesh. Apparently that did it. She fell to the ground with a hard thud and this time she didn't get back up. Up the street one of the Ravens touched down and dispatched a Gear squad.

"Sh*t Dizzy, we'd be dead right now if I wasn't for those guys," Gary said in disgust. He didn't want anything to do with the COG and definitely didn't't want them near his camp.

"Ya, sh*t," replied Dizzy. The Centaur rolled passed them. Dizzy guessed that the Corpser was its next target.

Suddenly something pinged in Dizzy's mind. Jasmine. He had to find her, and make sure she was safe. Dizzy took off toward the distant fighting where she most likely was. He could hear Gary calling after him but Dizzy ignored him.

Dizzy ran through the streets at top speed. He came across the ruins of a building destroyed in the Corpser's rampage through the city. Dizzy could hear gunfire on the other side, and he could see one of the King Ravens circling over head. It would take too long and use up too much energy to go over the wreckage so Dizzy decided to go around.

Once Dizzy was about half way around the destroyed building, something hit him like a brick sh*t house. He hit the ground hard, losing his hat in the process. Dizzy turned around onto his back to face his attacker. It was a Locust Drone, weaponless and missing an arm. The Grub had been hiding behind some rubble, waiting to strike something that came into its line of sight. It had a look of bloodlust in its white eyes. The foul disgusting creature wanted to take out any human it could before succumbing to its wounds. Dizzy reached for his Hammerburst laying next to him. He grabbed it, aimed and fired. No bullets came out of the gun, instead a sharp clicking sound.

"Gat dang it, outa ammo," Dizzy said in a pissed off tone. He needed his Gnasher more than ever. Dizzy winced as he remembered he had dropped it when running away from the Berserker.

"Gaaaaaaaahhhhhh!" the Locust bellowed as it charged at Dizzy. Being on the ground, he was in a bad position. He rolled out of the way from a boot to the skull. Dizzy got up and shoulder rammed into the Grub. Knocking it down was tough, like hitting a brick wall, but the Grub fell. Dizzy bounced back a couple feet and caught his balance. Close quarters with the Grub sent a horrible scent up Dizzy's nose.

"Sh*t, you smell worse than rotten ass!" Dizzy exclaimed.

In one quick movement he upholstered his Boltak pistol and fired into the Grubs chest. It fell backward, but it was still alive. Dizzy ran up, spun his Boltak around and gripping it by the barrel, and brought the butt of the gun down on the Grubs head.

Explosions in the distance caught Dizzy's attention. He saw the Corpser perched on top of a building, swatting at two King Ravens circling it. They where firing their chain guns at it to no affect. Suddenly an explosion hit the Corpser. Obviously the Centaur had shot it. It staggered and slid a couple floors down the side of the building. The monster jumped into the air in an attempt to hit one of the Ravens. One of its eight claws hit a Raven and it spun out of control into the streets below. Dizzy heard the Centaur shoot again and the sounds the Corpser made stopped.

Dizzy picked up his hat and returned to his task of getting around the ruined building. Once he got around the rubble he could see the action.

The Gears where sure giving the Locust hell. The Grubs numbers where severely lowered. Only a handful of them left. Dizzy could see Jasmine kneeling over someone and trying to bandage his wound. Tom was next to her firing his shotgun at the Locust.

Dizzy started running over to them. He was amazed at how twenty Gears where able to completely decimate the Locust. Three more Grubs went down. Two Ravens where raining hell down on the enemies. An entire column of the damn Grubs dropped like rocks. Dizzy got behind a car twenty five feet away from Jasmine. He looked out and watched as even more Drones fell. Dizzy turned toward Jasmine. She glanced over to him and gave him a thumbs up. Somehow she knew that everything was going to be all right.

A shot rang out. Tom fell to the ground clutching his neck. Blood squirting out between his fingers.

"Sniper!" yelled one Gear.

Jasmine ran to Tom's aid. Dizzy screamed at her, telling her to get back into cover. She couldn't hear him over all the gunfire. Another shot rang out.

In that one split second, time stopped. What happened next appeared to Dizzy like a slow motion video. Jasmine was hit in the chest. The bullet exited her back with a large splatter of blood. That one second of time felt like hours. Dizzy's mind was blank. No emotions, no thoughts whatsoever. He was just watching, waiting for it to end. In an instant it all came back. The sounds, the sights, the situation. It all came back except the emotions. They seemed to filter back slowly. Dizzy just stood there staring at his wife laying in a pool of her own blood. Suddenly Dizzy was overcome with only one emotion. Rage.

Dizzy flung himself out of cover and ran at the Locust position. He saw the sniper easily identified by its orange goggles. It was one of the last Locust left standing. You could count all the Grubs still alive on one hand, but Dizzy didn't care about them. He had one target on mind. He had it in his sights and sprinted at it full speed. Dizzy bum rushed the bastard and before it could retaliate, Dizzy slammed it to the ground. He got on top of it and just unloaded with all he had, punching the sniper in the face over and over again. The thing couldn't even fight back because Dizzy had it pinned.

Dizzy just let out a long drawn out yell. Grunting with every strike to the Grubs head. Its skull started to crunch and shatter. Is was obviously dead but Dizzy kept wailing on it. Dizzy's hands where bruised and broken but that did not detour him. He kept punching it even after its head was nothing but mush and his fists started hitting the concrete underneath.

Just then two pairs of arms pulled him off.

"Let me go. I wanna kill em all!" Dizzy shouted.

"It's over Dizzy," said a familiar voice. It was Gary. "Dizzy, I'm…." his voice trailed off.

For the first time Dizzy could feel warm tears falling down his face and soaking his beard. The fight was over. Dizzy slumped next to a car. He could barely hear the voices in the background. The Gears had left. Their job was done. Dizzy could only make out a couple people talking. Something about getting the lights on, the kyrll would be out soon, and other bull sh*t.

Sure Dizzy survived that day but at what cost. His wife, his love, his entire world, was gone.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

The hours following the event all seemed to blur together. Dizzy was walked home by Gary. When the duo arrived, Henny asked what happened. Gary took him into another room and told him. Everything after was clear as day. Dizzy walked to the girls room and peered in through the crack in the door. They where both sound asleep. Dizzy pushed open the door slowly as not to wake then.

Their faces were calm and peaceful, as if nothing had happened. The room was small, two beds lined close to each other. The twins where covered in rags and old clothes to stay warm. They had the same scarlet hair as their mother, tied back into a ponytail. Maralin had always kept hers longer than Teresa.

Dizzy sat down on a chest in the corner of the dark room and started crying.

Waiting gives a man time to think. Time to put everything into perspective. A lot of questions fill a man's mind afterwards. How would he handle the girls asking the inevitable question? How would he tell them? How would they cope?

Hours later the sun creeped in through the small window, and rested onto Dizzy's face. He awoke, still sitting on the chest. He hoped, prayed that last nights ordeal was just a horrible nightmare. That, sadly, was not the case. Jasmine was still dead at the hands of the Locust horde, and there was nothing Dizzy could do about it. He shouldn't have let her out of his sight.

Movement caught Dizzy's eye. One of the girls, Teresa, had stirred for a moment. She pushed herself up and put her hand to her mouth to yawn. She opened her eyes and saw her father. Her green eyes looked identical to her mothers.

"Daddy?" she asked in her sweet voice, still full of the innocence of a child. A wave of emotions washed over Dizzy like a flash flood. He pushed himself up and walked over to her bed. Dizzy dropped down to his knees. She had pushed herself out of the bed at the same time.

"Sweety," said Dizzy said with his voice breaking and tears rolling down his face again, "Sweety come here."

She took a step foreword and hesitated for a second.

"Dad?" she asked with a puzzled look on her face. She took another step foreword. Dizzy brought his arms around her in a loving embrace. Teresa put her arms on Dizzy's back, still confused. "Daddy, what's going on?" she inquired. She tried shaking Dizzy to get his attention.

"Baby," Dizzy forced out his baseball sized lump in his throat. "Baby, your momma loves you."

The loud creek of the door broke Henny out of his trance. He looked up from the small kitchen table to see Gary walk in the doorway.

"How's he doing?" asked Gary. He looked exhausted with dark purple bags under his eyes.

"Don't know. Hasn't been out all night," Henny responded, "Can I get you some coffee?"

"Yes, please," said Gary as he sat down at the table.

Coffee was a small luxury that Stranded rarely got. The Locust attacked a COG supply convoy last month. The Grubs left the supplies untouched and the Stranded didn't let it all go to waste.

Henny grabbed a small bag of coffee grounds and a bottle of water from the cupboard.

"How many casualties?" Henny asked in a somber voice as he started the crude, old coffee maker.

"Forty-six," replied Gary, "17 unaccounted for. Probably in the rubble of the building the Corpser destroyed, or unrecognizable.

Henny felt his heart sink into his stomach at the realization of that fact.

"Sh*t," Henny whispered.

"I know. We spent all night getting bodies into the light so the Kryll wouldn't get to 'em. Ten years in hell and you never get used to seeing corpses. Friends, loved ones, sh*t even kids."

Henny looked over to Gary. He had his eyes screwed shut, as if trying to fight back all the repulsive images in his head. Henny poured the coffee into the cups and walked back to the table. He put one cup in front of Gary.

"We're going to have to do a full count later today to find out who exactly didn't make it," Gary said. He looked as if he was off in another world.

Gary was an average sized man. Short brown hair, graying in places. Hairline receding at the temples. A short stubble beard indicated he hadn't shaved in a couple days. The man looked ten years older than he really was.

Gary was barely able to take one sip of his coffee when a knock sounded at the door. In walked a man named Grant.

"There's some people outside the gates asking for you, Gary. They look like some of Thor's men," Grant said in a strangely calm voice.

"Sh*t," Gary muttered, "What the hell do they want?"

"I don't know sir," replied Grant.

Gary sighed, "I'll take care of it." He got up from the table, took another drink of his coffee, then headed out.

"You want me to come wicha," asked Henny.

"No man, stay here. Dizzy needs a friend now and that's you," replied Gary, "I'll be back after I see what these assholes want."

Gary followed Grant toward the south western gate of the camp. Along the way they passed a large pile of dead Locust. Gary knew that if the Gears hadn't of shown up, they'd all be dead. He resented the thought. Gary hated the COG, but not for the same reasons as others. In fact it wasn't the COG he hated, just one man in it.

Gary's father served in the Pendulum Wars. He was a damned hero. But one day, while on leave he got in an argument with his wife and in a drunken rage, killed her. He was sent to Jacinto Maximum Security Prison to serve a life sentence. Gary never forgave him for his actions, but at least he thought he'd never see that bastard again. Then came E-Day. Shortly afterward, Col. Hoffman pardoned all inmates, and put them in uniform. That's why Gary hated them, Every time Gary saw a dead Gear, he hoped it was his father who suffered a horrible death at the hands of the Locust horde.

Gary and Grant arrived at the open gate. About a hundred feet down the road was a truck with three men standing next to it. One man he recognized as one of his own men. He seemed to be getting the raw end of an argument with the other two. After another verbal assault from them, he turned and ran back to the gate.

"What do they want?" Gary asked him as he finally made it back. Up close Gary recognized the kid as Bob.

"The one in charge is looking for you," replied Bob, "Said his name was Mad Dog."

Gary cursed under his breath. If their was anyone he hated more than his father, it was Mad Dog. Mad Dog was a sly, conniving, little sh*t, and just happened to be Thor's second in command. Thor is a leader of a two bit Stranded gang, always threatening Gary for supplies.

"Lets go see what those bastards want. Joseph," Gary pointed to one of the men stationed at the gate with a sniper rifle in hand, "Keep me covered. If this goes to sh*t, pop one of them. Grant, Bob, you're with me."

Gary set off to confront the gang members. He counted four of them. One man standing by the front of the truck, another standing in the back, and two more standing at the back end, closest to Gary. The short one was Mad Dog. While he wasn't a small guy, he looked like an ant compared to the mountain of a man standing next to him. The man standing in the back of the truck was skinny and short, and looked very malnourished. He was standing next to a large crate covered in a large white tarp.

"Hey, Gary. What's up man. How are things in your little slice of heaven, huh?" Mad Dog asked with an infuriating smirk on his face.

"F*ck off Mad Dog. What do you want?"

"Hey now, that's no way to speak to the messenger."

"I don't have time for your games. In case you hadn't noticed, Locust attacked yesterday, and we are trying to clean up. If you're not going to help, get your ass out of here."

"Oh, see, now we're getting somewhere. Thor knows of the attack. He also knows that the Gears saved your ass. Now when a sh*t load of Locust attack and Gears kill 'em all, there's a sh*t load of dead Locust. And When there's a sh*t load of dead Locust, there's a sh*t of weapons. We're here to take 'em off your hands for you."

"What the f*ck makes you think I'll just give them to you?"

"See, Gary, that wasn't a request. You either give them to us, or we take 'em."

"With what? Four against my entire camp? I'd like to see you try Mad Dog.

The man who was standing in front of the truck, walked up to Mad Dog's left side. Mad must of thought he looked tough with two big guys next to him. Mad Dog took a step forward and got right up in Gary's face.

"The only reason I don't cap you right now, is cuz I love to watch you squirm Gary," His dreadful smirk widening.

"The only reason I don't shoot you is because I don't waste the ammo on a piss-pore excuse of a human being like yourself."

Mad Dog took a step back, "With all pleasantries aside, lets get back to business. Rat!"

"Yes Boss," said the skinny man in the truck bed.

"Show these nice people our little pet."

The man called 'Rat' reached around and picked up the giant crate and hefted it out of the truck bed, and set it down in-between Gary and Mad Dog. Suddenly a high pitched scream sounded from the crate.

"Take the tarp off," Mad Dog ordered Rat.

As Rat pulled the white tarp off the snarling from inside only got louder. The Tarp slid off revealing a Locust Wretch inside a steel cage. Gary jumped back in surprise. Grant and Bob leveled their shotguns at the beast.

"Are you f*cking insane?" Gary shouted while Mad Dog broke out laughing.

"You see, if we don't get our weapons, I'm going to let this little guy loose and watch him rip you to bloody ribbons."

Gary looked at the savage animal. It had grey skin, just like its Locust masters. It had small beady red eyes full of bloodlust. The Wretch grabbed one of the bars on its cage and reached its monkey like hand out, in a feeble attempt to maim anything it could.

"I don't even want to know how the f*ck you caught that thing," said Gary, "Grant, shoot it!"

Grant raised his Gnasher , but before he could fire, the Stranded next to Mad Dog blasted Grant with his Double Barrel Shotgun. Grant was dead before he hit the ground, his body littered with buck shot.

"We have a deal or what?" chuckled Mad Dog.

You're f*cking crazy," Gary said as he walked over to Grants corpse. He ran his hand over Grant's face to close his eyes, then grabbed his shotgun. Gary motioned to Bob, telling him that there leaving.

"You can tell Thor to shove it where the sun don't shine," Gary said. He and Bob started walking back to the gate.

"You're making a huge mistake Gary!" Mad Dog shouted, "Rat! Release our little friend."

Gary spun around and raised his shotgun. Rat stood up on top of the cage, pulled a lever, and unlatched the lock on the cage. He pulled the front of the cage up, releasing its prisoner. The Wretch, now free of its cage, charged at Gary all while screaming its small head off. Gary aimed his Gnasher and fired. The beast fell back from the force of the shot. Mad Dog's face contorted in anger.

"Your gonna pay for that!" he screamed. He and his gang walked up to Gary, obviously ready for a fight. "Big Larry, show then who there dealing with," Mad Dog ordered the hulking giant. Suddenly a sniper rifle round rang out. The top half of Larry's head exploded, and his lumbering frame fell backward. Mad Dog looked at his corpse in shock and when he turned back to Gary he received a heavy punch to the face. The other two men turned and ran back to the truck. Mad Dog was still trying to pick himself up from Gary's massive blow to the face.

"This is a mistake! You hear me!" Mad Dog screamed as he stumbled to his feet and took off for the truck. "When Thor hears of this, your all dead!" he shouted as he climbed into the truck, "You haven't seen the last of me asshole!" With that, the truck drove off.

"Good shot Joseph," said Gary as he reached the gate, "If those bastards come back, shoot on sight." Gary knew that if they even tried coming back, his men would be ready for them.


	5. Act 2 Operation Life Boat  Prologue

**Act 2**

**Prologue**

**14 Years after E-Day**

"She's gone,"

"No…No, she can't be,"

"She's gone dammit! And its your own damn fault!"

"No! NOO! That's impossible! She can't be…"

Dizzy found himself stumbling around in the dark. It was pitch black for as far as the eye could see. A spot light of unknown origin shown down on him, illuminating his figure against the darkness.

"Do I have to spell it out to you? She is DEAD!"

Dizzy took a step forward, and his leg buckled, but he caught his balance just before he fell.

"No….No, you're wrong!" Dizzy yelled back.

"Face it. You Failed. Jasmine is dead because of you, and only you! You couldn't save her. You failed her as a husband, and you have failed as a father."

The words dug into Dizzy like a knife. He fell to his knees, and buried his face in his hands. His fingers ran through his salt-and-pepper hair, and tears flowed in between them.

Bang

Dizzy pulled his hands away from his face, and saw his wife's body laying ten feet away from him, a hole in her chest, and laying in a pool of blood. Even in death, she was just as beautiful as the day Dizzy met her.

"No. No, no, no, no, no, no, no! It's not true. It can't be true," said Dizzy as more tears fell between each word.

"It's true. Every word,"

"Shut the f*ck up!" yelled Dizzy as he punched the ground. "Show yourself! Show yourself you bastard!" Dizzy screamed into the air.

"I'm right here you son of a b*tch," The voice rang out from behind Dizzy.

Dizzy turned to face his verbal attacker, but what he saw sent another knife into his chest. In front of him was a mirror in which he saw himself standing with his arms crossed.

"Surprised? You sicken me, ya know that? Look at ya'self, and think hard. What do you see? A pathetic sack'a sh*t that's not even worth the ground he's standing on."

Dizzy stood there, studying his reflection. With every line on his face, with every hair in his beard, he came to realize that he barely recognized the man he'd become. In only four years, his face had aged ten.

"What do you have to say for ya'self? Sh*t, what can you say? You're a failure. You failed her…..You failed them."

Two figures appeared behind Dizzy. They were his twin daughters, Teresa and Maralin. Dizzy turned to the girls.

"Babies, I-I'm sorry," Dizzy said while choking on his own words. He took three steps forward, but they didn't seem to get any closer. Dizzy took another five steps, but the distance between them didn't close. Dizzy started to panic. He started to walk, but the girls got no closer. Dizzy picked up the pace, then broke into a full sprint. He ran as fast as he could, but they only got farther away. He pushed himself to go faster, but the distance between them grew with each step.

"You can't save them! They're doomed to die in this hell hole, and there's nothin' you can do!"

With that, Dizzy tripped and fell. He could no longer see the twins, only bitter darkness surrounded him once more. His reflection was right. He failed.

Bang

Dizzy looked down and saw a grapefruit sized hole in his chest. He fell to his knees, and that all too familiar feeling of helplessness overwhelmed him.

"I'm sorry," Dizzy gasped as he blacked out once more.


End file.
